English Curriculum Statement
Intent
At Broughton Jewish, we aim to deliver a broad and balanced English programme using objectives from the National Curriculum 2014 which determine the skills that are taught in each year group and Key Stage. Our aim is for all of our pupils to become competent readers, speakers, writers and spellers, who can transfer their English skills to other subject areas. We nurture them as eloquent and articulate speakers and writers, who use a wide and purposeful vocabulary to clearly express their thoughts and ideas. We encourage them as readers, who select texts for purpose and pleasure. We aim for our pupils to read texts confidently, fluently and with good comprehension. Pupils are exposed to a wide range of high quality texts to encourage a passion for reading. We use quality picture books, novels, poems and non-fiction texts, which support children on the journey from reading to writing. We aim to ensure that pupils write clearly, accurately and coherently; adapting their language and style for a range of purposes, audiences and contexts and apply their grammatical knowledge in their writing.
Implementation
Our school provides English lessons that are progressive and support skill development. The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum is followed to ensure continuity and progression from entering Nursery, moving on to Reception Class and then through to the National Curriculum in KS1 and KS2. Quality children’s texts are at the heart of our English curriculum and they are carefully selected to engage and challenge pupils in their Literacy learning. Literacy skills are explicitly taught but English skills are used and applied by children in all areas of the curriculum. Throughout English teaching, cross-curricular links are used to make the curriculum more engaging for children and to give them a purpose for their writing.
Reading
In EYFS and Year 1, pupils receive a daily phonics lesson using the systematic phonic based programme ‘Read Write Inc’. Children are taught phonics in streamed groups across the cohort and those children requiring more targeted support in their phonetic knowledge, are provided with additional ‘catch up’ sessions where gaps in GPCs are plugged and children gain confidence with their blending skills. At the end of each phonics lesson , the children spend some time reading as a whole group. This focuses on a different aspect of reading; decoding and prosody.
Each year, parents/carers of our EYFS and KS1 children are invited into school so we can share with them how their child will be taught to read at Broughton Jewish and what they can do to best support their child at home with this.
Guided Reading takes place from Year 1 - Year 6 using Teach Hub Reading Resources and also the Schofield and Sims Complete Comprehension scheme of work. Guided Reading sessions are delivered weekly with a whole class mixed ability approach. The scheme covers a wide variety of poetry, fiction and non-fiction texts, with the aim to develop the children’s vocabulary, inference and deduction, prediction, explanation (of authorial intent or impact on the reader), retrieval, summarising and sequencing skills.
Children are given the opportunity to take home an additional ‘reading for pleasure’ book from our Whispering Wood Library, which they select themselves, with the view that this can be shared with an adult at home for enjoyment. We encourage all children and parents to read at home and for parents to log their practice within their reading records.
Writing
Units of work are planned following the ‘Lancashire Writing Units’, where children are supported and guided through the initial vocabulary gathering and planning stages, through to the final proof-reading and editing stages. Pupils are provided with purposeful opportunities to write in a variety of genres and literary styles. Our writing overviews demonstrate how teachers use opportunities in our broad, balanced curriculum to further embed, extend and develop the writing skills of our children through cross-curricular learning. We develop writing skills so that our children have the stamina and ability to write at the age expected standard.
In all areas of the curriculum, speaking and listening skills are developed through talk partners, group discussions and drama activities. By developing pupils’ spoken language, we aim to improve their ability to write clearly and coherently.
Spelling, punctuation and grammar skills are taught explicitly throughout KS1 and KS2 and are a focus in all writing across the curriculum.
Years 2-6 use the Read, Write Inc. spelling scheme and pupils practise their spellings at home and are assessed after 1 or two units of work.
Pupils are assessed against the 2014 National Curriculum Programmes of Study. Pupils are expected to attain the ‘Age Related Expectations’ (ARE) by the end of each school year. We use a combination of formal methods of assessment, statutory assessments and teacher assessed learning to gain an overall picture of our pupils’ progress and attainment.
Impact
· Pupils enjoy writing and use the features of different genres and styles. They can write for different purposes and audiences.
· Skills progress in grammar and punctuation is evident throughout the school in children’s books and in our writing overviews.
· Writing across the curriculum is the same standard as in English books.
· There is evidence of a clear ‘writing journey’ in books
· A range of genres are taught across the school (progressing in difficulty) resulting in pupils being exposed to, and knowledgeable about, literary styles, authors and genres. They can express preferences and give opinions, supported by evidence, about different texts.
· Next steps marking provides positive support and directs the pupil on their next steps to improve their writing.
· Pupils’ work is moderated in school and in cluster meetings with other schools to ensure accurate assessments are made.
· Each term, pupil progress meetings are held with the Headteacher, deputy headteacher, SENCO and class teachers to ensure different groups and individual progress is monitored and interventions organised to support progress.
· Intervention sessions enable a greater proportion of pupils to be on track to meet year group expectations.
· Subject leader conducts learning walks and book monitoring throughout the year. These inform future areas for improvement and the impact of new initiatives.
· Standards are being met at the end of EYFS, Phonics Screening Check, KS1 and KS2 in line with local and national averages. Each year data is analysed and any areas for improvement identified and addressed.
